urbane

Syllables: urb·aneUK/ɜːˈbeɪn//ˈɝˈbeɪn/

urbane adjective: of a person (usually a man): having refined manners; courteous, polite, suave. Also the obsolete spelling of urban.

Adjective

urbane (comparative urbaner or more urbane, superlative urbanest or most urbane)

Of a person (usually a man): having refined manners; courteous, polite, suave.
- We took advantage of our acquaintance with the urbane Frenchman to join his party; the conversation turned almost entirely on literary subjects.1828, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter XV, in Pelham; or, The Adventures of a Gentleman. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 93–94
- Newman, at this juncture, fell to admiring the duchess for her fine manners. He felt, most accurately, that she was not a grain less urbane than she would have been if his marriage were still in prospect; but he felt also that she was not a particle more urbane.1877 May, Henry James, Jr., chapter XXV, in The American, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, […], published 5 May 1877, →OCLC, pages 441–442
Synonyms:

debonair

Antonyms:

rustic, unurbane
Of an act, expression, etc.: suited to a person of refined manners; elegant, sophisticated.
- He [Yusuf I of Granada] had an excellent memory, well stored with science and erudition; he was of a lively genius, and accounted the best poet of his time, and his manners were gentle, affable, and urbane.1832, [Washington Irving], “Jusef Abul Hagias, the Finisher of the Alhambra”, in The Alhambra: A Series of Tales and Sketches of the Moors and Spaniards. […], volume II, Philadelphia, Pa.: [Henry...
- The urbane activity with which a man receives money is really marvellous, considering that we so earnestly believe money to be the root of all earthly ills, and that on no account can a monied man enter heaven. Ah! how cheerfully we consign ourselves to perdition!1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Loomings”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 5
Antonyms:

unurbane

Also used as

urbane is also the obsolete spelling of urban.

Examples of urbane in a sentence

The sepulchral atmosphere of the parlor had chilled and dampened the spirits of this usually urbane woman, while disappointment and disgust were written in every line of that strong face.1897 March, Maria Weed, “Disillusioned”, in The Midland Monthly, volume VII, number 3, Des Moines, Iowa: Johnson Brigham, →OCLC, chapter II...
Our people must have some control over our destiny," reasons Wilma Muth, an urbane woman who serves as Inyo County supervisor.1976, National Geographic, volume 149, Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 106:
To guests, a servant should not sour-faced by, / But do the honours with a mind urbane.1871, Robert Browning, Balaustion’s Adventure: Including a Transcript from Euripides, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 112:

Synonyms of urbane

debonair

Antonyms

Forms of urbane

comparative	urbaner
comparative	more urbane
superlative	urbanest
superlative	most urbane

Origin of urbane

A variant of urban + -ane (a variant of -an (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives)). Urban is borrowed from Middle French urbain (“belonging to a city, urban; courteous, refined, urbane”) (modern French urbain), or from its etymon Latin urbānus (“of or belonging to a city, urban; of manners or style: like those of city dwellers: cultivated, polished, refined, sophisticated”), from urbs (“city; walled town; Rome”) (further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gʰerdʰ- (“to encircle, enclose; a belt; an enclosure, fence”) or *werbʰ- (“to enclose”)) + -ānus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Compare typologically civil, courteous.

Words formed from urbane

Words that rhyme with urbane

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about urbane

What does urbane mean?: Urbane means of a person (usually a man): having refined manners; courteous, polite, suave.
How do you use urbane in a sentence?: The sepulchral atmosphere of the parlor had chilled and dampened the spirits of this usually urbane woman, while disappointment and disgust were written in every line of that strong face.
What part of speech is urbane?: Urbane is an adjective.
How do you pronounce urbane?: Urbane is pronounced /ɜːˈbeɪn/ (UK).

Words near urbane in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: urbane (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-urbane.ogg.

Cite this entry: “urbane.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/urbane. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.